UMS-Wright Preparatory School

1905 UMS Football Team

UMS-Wright Preparatory opened as University Military School on October 2, 1893, at 559 Conti Street. The school's founder and first headmaster was Dr. Julius T. Wright (1871–1931). The school’s opening day coincided with the 1893 Cheniere Caminada hurricane. The school had a single teacher and twenty-five pupils at a tuition of $8 a month. Dr. Wright served as the headmaster of the school until his death in 1931. William Pape took over after Dr. Wright. Pape died in 1943 and his family turned control of the school over to a nonprofit corporation, the UMS Alumni and Parents Association, Inc. UMS moved the school to its current location on North Mobile Street in 1956 to accommodate the growing number of students.[1]

Thirty years after the opening of University Military School (an all male school) Julius T Wright opened Girls Preparatory School in 1923 to provide a similar education to the young women of the Mobile community. It only lasted eight years as it closed after the death of Dr. Wright in 1931.

Julius T Wright School for Girls opened in 1956 at the same location as Girls Preparatory School at 1315 Dauphin Street, which had been newly renovated. It came after a long campaign by alumni of the original Girls Preparatory School to have a female equivalent to University Military School. The school moved to 1400 S University Blvd in 1972. It remained there until its merger with University Military School in 1988.

In 1988, University Military School and Julius T Wright School for Girls followed the trend of many other single-gender schools around the country and combined to form the co-educational UMS-Wright Preparatory School. Dr. Tony Havard, a member of the UMS English faculty, was named the headmaster and is now the current president of the school.

The school has a three-level structure: the Lower School (K-3 through 4th grade), the Middle school (5th grade through 8th grade), and the Upper School (9th grade through 12th grade).[2]

The UMS-Wright Arts Building that is used for Fine Art, Drama, Chorus, and Band Classes.

Located on Campus are five Lower School buildings, two middle school buildings, and one high school building. All three have separate offices and principals. The campus also houses two full-size gymnasiums, a weight training facility, and an athletic training facility. The football stadium, Cooper Stadium, is surrounded by a four-hundred meter track. Also located on Campus are two multi-purpose fields, a twenty-five-meter swimming pool, a baseball field, and a softball field.

UMS-Wright has 156 total state championship titles:

• Baseball ~ 1978 • 1988 • 1993 • 1995  • 1997 • 1999 •  2010 • 2011 • 2016 • 2017
• Boys Basketball ~ 1998
• Girls Basketball ~ 1978
• Boys Cross Country ~ 1971 • 1975 • 1980 • 1997 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011
• Girls Cross Country ~ 1977 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 2004 • 2005 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013
• Football ~ 1987 • 2001 • 2002 • 2005 • 2008 • 2012 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019
• Boys Soccer ~ 2010 • 2011
• Swimming and Diving ~ 1997 • 2018
• Boys Tennis  1968 • 1981 • 1989 • 1990 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016
• Girls Tennis 1978 • 1994 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018
• Boys Outdoor Track ~  1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1990 • 1991 • 1997 • 1988 • 1999 • 2000 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016
• Girls Outdoor Track ~ 1982 • 1983 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2015 • 2016 • 2018
• Boys Indoor Track ~ 1972  • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1985 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2006 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015
• Girls Indoor Track ~ 1981 • 1982 • 1984 • 1997 • 2001 • 2012 • 2013
• Junior High Indoor Track ~ 1968
• Boys Golf ~ 1961 • 1971 • 1980 • 1983 • 1990 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2014 • 2016 • 2017

• Art Guild
• Azalea Trail
• French Club
• Spanish Circle
• Theatre Guild
• Wright Singers
• Youth Judicial
  

  The UMS-Wright Marvin Mostellar Sr. Weight Room, also called the "Dean Dome," which is used for boys and girls Physical Education Classes

• Cum Laude Society
• National Honor Society
• Quill & Scroll
• Mu Alpha Theta
• Science National Honor Society
• Spanish/French Honor Society
• National English Honor Society
• Rho Kappa Honor Society

The Honor Council is composed of student representatives in grades 9–12 who are elected to promote honesty and integrity.